well after my mom made me tear up my HO layout in preperation to move she had bought me a N scale set (that i built from indiviual parts at a hobby store).

Less then a month later. Tongiht the engine, (a bachmann spectrum 8-40C) decided to die on me. a few year back, another regular line bachmann engine i had decided to die too. the origonal one died because the drive rods bent in the california heat and then when i gave it power it stripped the gears. THE engine made a buzzing sound which a local N scale club found and showed me the stripped gear.

I stepped out of N scale for a few years until now. 2 weeks ago we bought the set. and then tonight it started running sparadically. I had recently put grease on as a suggestion from a trainboard member to check and see if that was the problem. nope, still had grease and it moved easily. i cleaned the track and engine good and it ran fine.... until it suddenly very abbruptly stopped and started making this high pitched grinding sound, the exact same the other bachmann had when it stripped its gears. i poped the top and took it apart. i could find no stripped gears, after i put it back together it ran for about 5 minutes without making a sound. then the high pithced noise returned and this time the motor quit. as of right now the lights work but i cannot get it to move...
this is the second time a bachmann engine in N has failed me. Not very helping. I would love to get it fixed and running again , Any suggestion to check anything before i send it back to bachmann.

Hello all
I got a Bachmann daylight about a year or so ago and for some reason it seems to making a clanking noise from the driver and it waddles down the track. i know the noisy is probably the gear box so how do i open it to lube it? and is there a way to fix my waddling problem?

for some reason burning smells from bachmann decoders are typical for me, my daylihgts fried about 2 months after i got it, and a friend decoder in a model 3751 also made a burning smell and acually melted the plastic around it in the tender. maybe its a defect IDK, but i know i'll be replacing mine sooner or later...

Ok, lets kill 2 birds with one stone!

The planned Thomas layout
This layout will be going into my room where my current Wooden train setup is, The layout will have very sharp corners (not much space) and be run from some older power packs (by the way the shelf layout is coming down for good as I only need 1 layout in my room!) The track plan will probably have 2 running loops (one inside the other) and have several industry's : Scrap yard, docks, chocolate factory, and maybe a mine. I will have 2 towns (one by the far wall and one at the docks) and maybe a round house (if I have room).

My first railroad
My first railroad was a 4x8 layout I got when I was five (about 1999-2000). It had two tracks, the lower one was a figure 8 and the upper one was an elevated circle. It was apparent I wasn't quite ready for the set because after 6 months of having it my parents dismantled it because I had destroyed the trains. The only thing I have left is a few of the cars and one engine.

Ok, heres the history and current state of my wall layout.
HISTORY
The wall layout started as a piece of track on my shelve about a year ago and I just ran trains back and forth (wish I had more to do with it ) for about 6 mounths. About 5 months ago I found alot of scrap wood in my closet and decided to use it, about 3 and 1/2 hours later the layout had a 3 foot extension over the top of my bed (Only 3 feet because it was made of hard wood, old rusty screws, lots and lots of staples and school gule.
) (I didn't have power tools either!  ).  The last foot could not be operated because I didn't have any track joiners for that spot. The layout ran until about 2 months ago when my mom took a good look at my consrtution. She imidiatly asked why the extension hadn't fell on me already (True the extension lost 3 inches in hieght because the wood was too heavy to be anchored to the shelve, The only thing holding it up was one screw that was not even put in all the way. Currently my layout is back to what it was in the begining.

Quotemy bachmann james can pull 6 coaches without a problem

Yes, but does your layout have grades?
I had an Athearn Genisis 2-8-2 that could pull about 10 cars on my layouts, it also did quite a bit of switching at the San Diego Model Railroad museums Tehicaipi Loop club. But this was on flat grades. I had never tryed to run it up the grade at Techaipi because it was a non-DCC locomotive (a requirement for mainline running at that club). When we moved to Colorado I tryed to run it at the club here hooked to 1 coach (my Kato SP observation). It ran well around the circus loop but as soon as the train hit the .5 grade after leaving the yard the engine just spun. I took the coach off and gave it a whirl. This time it made it but the wheels where still spining. Then I just used it as a helper engine when needed. After awhile I just put it on a display shelf because it was so light as a helper it would just spin and leave the other engine (usually a Walthers-Trainline GP-9) would be doing all the work.

Unfortunatly he has run out of time. As of March 8th at 2AM my dad died after 6 years of Cancer. 

The same way I store everything! In spare Athearn kit boxes with foam!

This is a thread for train layouts old and new, big and small.
My old layout
In San Diego I had a 4 level layout from about 2002 to 2005. Each deck served a differnet purpose.
Deck one (lowest) 2" to 3"
Lego Trains where on Deck 1, Phase 1 {2002- late 2003] :the track plan was basicly an ovel with a passing track. I rebuilt the station that came with the Hogwarts express set and made a small country station. There was an engine shed (unacessible by rail [not enough switches]) that I put various cars in. Using 2 tunnel portals (scratch-built) and blocks of wood I made a tunnel. Phase 2 [Late 2003- Late 2004] This phase had the same track plan (but with less curves because I had recieved stright tracks) but the passing siding was no more. The switches had been made into differnt uses 1: as a lead for the engine track and 2: as a lead for the new mine. The station had been redesigned and a baggage terminal (a small shack) had been put in.
Phase 3 [late 2004- mid 2005] : I had already gotten the news we where moving and a few things had been packed. The eleaborate staion had been destroreyed (because it was too big to go!) and the mine was no more. There was a simple very small (now not even the size of 1/4 of the 4x8) oval  and a passing track (the shed just off to the side like in Phase 1). Most of the lego stuff had moved to the table in my room including: the mine portal {not the mine}, new trolley staion (made from part of the old depot), and an oval of track (along with enough for the trolley line)
Deck two 1.8' to 2'
This was my main HO scale layout for quite awhile. Phase 1 [early 2001 to mid 2002] was the first layout I had but it was no table! It was the floor! The layout was an ovel with a 2 track yard. It had no features. Phase 2 {Mid 2002- early/mid 2003}, at this phase I had moved onto the table and had a huge oval with a small yard (just swiches not track). It ran for awhile but my idea to use marker for rust on the track backfired and sandpaper was the only option. Many of the structure my dad put together and that ran for awhile with Life-Like equipment. Phase 3 {Early/Mid 2003-  early 2004), This was a run off of Phase 2 with more buildings and a siding at each end of the layout. I was double heading at that time and the power pack was starting to give out. During a trip to my house by friends (all model railroaders) we discovered that 18" radius was not the way to go! Phase 4 {Early 2004- late 2004} This phase saw a major redo to the layout. A passing track was added along with another controler so you could operate trains from either end of the layout. The outertrack of the passing track was 22" Radius but the other end was still 18". I added a Campground with paper tents (thanks mom!) and gravel.  In this short period the layout rapidly expanded with more buildings, trains, and cars. Phase 5 {Late 2004 - Mid 2005} I had been getting into the passenger fling at this time and the passing track was moved to the staion to allow for 2 passenger trains at once. The was another problem that I fixed! I used the curves like this 22", 18", 22", 18", etc so I would not have a wide turn but yet long cars could go through. Unfortunatly this required an S-curve in the track by the RR Crossing. This was a short lived layout and was the first to be torn down in the moving process.
Deck three  3'- 4'  There where no phase to this level as it was used for storage and N-scale along with slot cars.
Deck four 4.5'-5'
This level had 2 phases. Phase 1 (2002-early 2004) This was my Wacky layout at that time, it contain a giant model submairne in the middle and all sorts of toys from differnt scenes (some where just from Mc Donalds or Burger King (yes those Toys!)). This layout used old track from Level 2 and was poorly mantained. It suffered many derailments and power problems but I still kept it (Great to have all 4 levels running!) Phase 2 (Early 2004- mid 2005) This was when it changed from Wacky themed to Space themed. After a school show thing I has space thing left over so I made it the space level. It was never completed though. During this time I polished the track so it would work better.

Next time: My current layout! and my Planned Thomas Layout, also the very brief history of my wall layout and the furture wall layout!

In 2002 my mom purchised a Bachmann N-scale starter set for my birthday. It was a Santa Fe 4-8-4 Northern with assorted cars and an oval of track. I had it set up until about mid 2003 when I had to take it down temporarily because I was seting up a Like-Like slot car racing set in its place. In early 2004 I had room again (this time on my space themed layout [never finished]) and set it up. I powered it up, but the moter only buzzed. Then after leting it sit for about 6 mounths I took it down. To my suprise the side rod had moved! The rod was not in a stright line and had bent. I took it to the Model railroad museum and showed it to the N-sacle club. They took it apart and discovered that a light blue gear had stripped. They think that the rod bent (somehow) and because it couldn't move stripped the gear.

Is this a typical problem? If it is is there a way to fix it or will I have to send it back to Bachmann?

My dad recived Cancer in late 2001 because he smoked. In the past 6 years he has had numerous surgerys. The last one (Mid 2006) took out all of his tounge except for what was needed to hold his trought. He has had several bones removed from his legs to redo his jaw (the first doctors didn't do it right) and now his condition has just been getting worse. He has had numerous bleed that are dangerous to him and now he is running out of time.

Or take a piece of plywood and mark the track plan with electrical tape (I've done this before ).  Insert plastic insulated rail joiners every so often (mark on plywood with white tape). Place switches (not the track ones, the control ones) on the plywood. Then attach one end of the switches electronics to the controler and the other to the spaces inbetween the rail joiners. Then place trains on seperate blocks (the spaces inbetween the rail joiners) and turn up the power. What? Nothing's happened?  Turn a switch up and a train on that block will move and ONLY that train. It prevents collisons and allows you to put  trains and cars in sidings without crashing other trains! Altough complex I have wired a model railroad (at a club not one of my own) like that before.